Police detonate possible pipe bomb in Manchester

Jeff Dade, a member of the New Hampshire State Police Explosives Units, prepares to utilize a disruption tool to neutralize the suspected explosives device found in front of a Maryland Avenue home early Thursday morning. (COURTESY)

MANCHESTER - Maryland Avenue in Manchester is open again after police received a report of a suspicious-looking device on the ground around 7 this morning.

Members of the New Hampshire State Police bomb squad were called after a resident putting out trash saw what appeared to be a cylindrical-shaped object, capped at one end and containing what appeared to be a fuse. The resident said he did not see the device last night.

Manchester Police Lt. Maureen Tessier said homes in the area of 245 Maryland Ave. were evacuated after police were called just before 7 a.m. Some residents chose to stay indoors during the incident.

Streets in the immediate area were closed until just after 9 a.m., and an area 100 yards around the scene was evacuated.

State police were able to use a disruption tool to neutralize the suspicious object by breaking it apart. They have since collected the pieces of the device and will conduct further analysis of those remnants to identify if the object did in fact pose an explosive threat, was a possible hoax device or merely an innocuous item that shared similar characteristics of a "pipe bomb."

Shortly before 9 a.m., Tessier told reporters at the scene there was "nothing to worry about." Shortly after she said that, a muffled explosion was heard in the vicinity.